Monday, February 13, 2012

Just a regular Friday

Did you see the comments on my last post? I have been reading Lynnette's blog, Dancing Again , for several years now. I asked her to check out my last post and give me some feedback and she did! Not only that, but she posted a link to it on her facebook page as well. I was so honored that she took the time to read my post and share it with her readers as well. Follow the link above and check out her blog. She has an amazing story! Did you know she also has a new book getting ready to come out? I can't wait to read it!

This year, we have been schooling only 4 days a week because Daniel's days off have been Thursday and Friday. We typically have school as usual on Thursday and then take Friday off for "Fun Day Friday." Daniel's schedule is changing though, so this week our family day was Thursday. Friday we were back to school. Here's a peek at some of what we were up to on Friday.

I put off getting Dakota's new science book until after Christmas. I had been looking for an inexpensive used copy online, but wasn't ever able to find one for much less than the cost of just buying it new. So, when we went to Tulsa for my birthday in January, I picked up a copy of Apologia Exploring Creation with Physical Science at Mardel. Dakota is really enjoying it. The only problem we've had with it is that I can't seem to read the supply lists for the experiments very well. I try to read ahead and pick up all the week's supplies when I do my grocery shopping, but somehow I always overlook something. I'm working on it, though. On Friday, Dakota worked on catching up on a couple of her experiments since I (finally) had all the supplies on hand.

Doesn't she look very studious in this picture? (Note to self-have Dakota clean off the counter before taking blog pictures of her doing science experiments)

See the battery with the two wires leading into that bowl of water (and some other stuff)? Made me just a tiny bit nervous. But it was fine.

If you look closely, you can see tiny bubbles coming from the ends of the wire in the bowl.

After a few minutes, this is what the water looked like. Pretty cool! And look at the ends of the wires. They were the same color when she started. I love fun science experiments like this!

I found the idea for this game on Pinterest (where else?). It came from Shari Sloane at kidscount1234.com . For some reason, I couldn't figure out how to print her game board, so I made my own version. You can make one pretty easily on Microsoft Word.

Once you print your board, you need some beans (or something to cover the spaces on the board) and two dice. The players take turns rolling the dice, adding the numbers, and removing a bean until all the beans are removed (or until each player has gone 20 times, etc). Another option is to have a board for each player and they take turns rolling and removing a bean from their own board. Whoever clears their board first is the winner.Something we learned from this first time to play is that it takes a loooooong time to clear the board if you cover all the spaces. We played again today and only covered 25 of the spaces. MUCH faster. This game was great for older kids too. Cheyenne didn't play, but she watched us and it gave us a chance to talk about probability and why it was easier to clear the numbers in the middle than the ones on the ends.

If you have a child (surely I'm not the only one) who tends to throw the dice so hard they end up all the way across the table or on the floor, here is my solution to the problem. We have all sorts of plastic lids around and they are perfect for giving kids a target for their dice. It's also great for reducing the noise!

While I was working on math with Landon, the girls were doing independent work. Here's Sierra working on an addition facts page.(Yes, those are her pajamas. Homeschool's fun like that! Dakota was leaving for a youth conference Friday afternoon. Sierra decided to do her schoolwork first and get it out of the way and then get dressed)

One way that I have the kids practice their memory verse for the week is to cut it apart and then glue the words in order on another piece of paper. For Landon and Sierra, I print them off on the computer.The older girls write theirs themselves, then cut them apart and glue them on construction paper.Another thing I do for Sierra and Landon is to make a puzzle for each verse. I write the verse on a sentence strip (from the Dollar store-yea!) and cut it apart. The puzzle stays in their work basket and they put it together several times during the week. This has been great not only for helping them memorize the verse, but also for learning sight words. The first few words Landon learned (the, God, is) came from his memory verses.After lunch, it was science time. We've been learning about the sun in our Exploring Creation with Astronomy book (also by Apologia). Our final project for the sun chapter was to make a pinhole viewing box for looking at the sun. We all took turns and helped put it together.We went outside to try it out, but the sun decided to hide behind some clouds. So, instead, we tested it on the lightbulb in the kitchen. Not quite as impressive, but we got the idea. We have our box in a safe place waiting for a nice, sunny day to take it outside.

This week, we are beginning the chapter on Mercury in Science and learning about Noah and the flood, the ice age, and dinosaurs in history. We also have a Valentine's Day party with our homeschool group on Tuesday. It's gonna be a fun week!

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Daniel and I

I was blessed to meet my best friend during our junior year of high school. He took me to my junior prom and we have been together ever since. We celebrated our 16th anniversary this year. It has been an adventure and I can't wait to see what's next!

Dakota

Dakota is our oldest daughter. I am loving watching her grow into an amazing teenager! She is her own person and doesn't care what the crowd thinks. I can see God's hand in her life already and I can't wait to see where He leads her.

Cheyenne

Cheyenne is our 12 year old daughter. She is a daddy's girl all the way. I love that she can be a deer hunting tom-boy one minute and a girly-girl princess the next. She's our family's "other mother" and takes care of us all.

Sierra

Sierra is our princess! She loves all things girly-fairies, princesses, dress-up clothes, glitter. Her nickname has always been "smiley" and she earns it!

Landon

Landon is 100% boy! He is constantly on the go, makes messes, gets dirty, and rips the knees out of his jeans. But, he has the most tender and compassionate heart ever!